In the movie Suffragette (2015), we meet mother and laundry worker Maud Watts, a fictional character meant to represent an active participant in a very real event. This event being the women’s empowerment movement that took place in 1910’s England, and their fight for the right to vote, dubbed Suffragette; a woman seeking the right to vote through organized protest. Though mostly basing the storyline around fictional characters, some of the mentioned women were crucial to this movement, such as Emily Davidson and Emmeline Pankhurst. The mix of real and fictional merge together in a painfully beautiful harmony as they accentuate and build the many characters story line, while mainly focusing Watts’.
Watts is introduced as she witnesses one of many protest organized by the Suffragrettes, she seems aware but reluctant on the issue of women’s right to vote. While exploring the issue, it becomes clear to her that her husband sees no need nor has any understanding for what the women are fighting for. She continues to watch from the sidelines until she is getting involved with a new employee that is constantly getting into trouble, Violet Miller, who later on introduces her to the Suffragettes. Maud Watts’ subtle participation is then disrupted when she is forced to testify to Mr. Lloyd George, a member of parliament. This is where we learn the truth about Maud, how her mother got back to work as soon as possible after giving birth, often strapping Maud on her back or placing her by the heaters as she worked. That was up until a workplace accident occurred when a boiler tipped over and scolded her mother when she was 4 years old. Because of Mrs. Watts not knowing her father, she worked part-time at the laundry at 7 years-old, and then full-time at 12. It shook me, and mostly of all; disturbed me. Specifically the way Maud is expressing these horrific details with little to none emotion visible on her face, she is completely unfazed and calm. That’s when I realized how real this was for many women.
It’s the same sympathy I felt for her that seemed to show on Georges face, it’s clear Maud felt hope for change, but then came the day of the verdict; the law wouldn’t be changed. A spark is lit in Maud even though being beat, jailed, and scolded by her husband because of her presence with the Suffragettes. She continues participating in opposition to her husbands wishes, gets caught and gets kicked out of her home. Every neighbor and even her husband turned their back towards her, but the spark that was once lit was shining even brighter. She hit back at her sexually abusive and harassing employer by stamping a heating iron onto his hand. From that point on, her participation was even more risky and active. Her dynamic character development (most visible by the frequent interactions with the detective) that is only multiplied by defeat, creates the drive for the whole movie. As we see her and her fellow Suffragettes get weaker by every protest and arrest, it leads up to the movie’s climax; the horse race. As described in the task, it’s truly two worlds crashing together, and at first it seemed like the nobility won. Even Maud Watts seems to have accepted the fact that they lost, but that’s when the funeral of Emily Davidson came. The Suffragettes didn’t get the exposure they wanted from the horse race, but her funeral and the parade held was broadcasted across the globe. I’ll admit that it annoyed me how the brutal treatment of women in work-life and during protests wasn’t the turning point, but at least some Mrs. Davidsons life wasn’t taken for granted.
Henriette Marø 